It Doesn't Take A Rocket Scientist

The political division in this country is absolutely appalling. What amazes me even more is how people, claiming to be Christians spew venom and hate towards others simply because they don't agree with them.

That's not being a Christian.

Although I am a registered Democrat, have never let that stop me for voting for a Republican. I vote for a person not a party and have done such in numerous elections over the years. My husband has been a Republican for as long as I have known him but during this last presidential election declared himself an Independent, just like our daughter did.


Did I vote for Trump?
Certainly not.

Did I want him to succeed?
I certainly did, for the good of this (my) country.

I was extremely disappointed with the outcome of the election but was what it was and there was nothing I could do about it, other than hope for the best.

What idiot wants their own President to fail?

Here's another problem I have with all this division. For eight years Barrack Obama was portrayed as a Muslim, considered by many (including Trump) to not even be a US citizen and was the butt of too many hateful jokes and caricatures, along with his wife and two daughters; mostly for and about being black.

Did the man have his faults?
Who doesn't?

But now that we have a Republican president, there is a tremendous outcry from the right to "Stop the bashing" of the currently elected president.

Okay, tit for tat. I get that...

But when a president behaves like a middle school bully with his Twitter account, it's hard to consider him to being very Presidential.

Of course that's just my opinion so have never publicly lashed out on social media about his antics.

Actions speak louder than words and in my opinion are the mans' own worst enemy.

My own mother acted more presidential when she was the PTA president of my elementary school.

Of course the Democrats have a few dummies as well, I simply just tend to agree with them more than I do the dummies on the other side of the aisle.


Here's something to ponder...

In essence (and actuality) we have too many Dummies with power running our political system and  only dividing this nation even further.

What's the point of having a Republican party and Democratic party if all we are going to do is point fingers at each other and place blame?

I'm more of the mindset than we all need to be Independents.

I'm also of the mindset that to hate a person for their religion, sexuality or ethnicity is abominable. To not want and help the less fortunate is pathetic at best.

On Facebook one night, a girl (now woman) I went to school with commented on some hateful thread and said all liberals made her sick, shouldn't be tolerated and would never want to be in the same room with one.

I commented back that I considered myself as pretty liberal so did that include me?

This woman, who used to click like after like after like on my comments and even on my blog, wrote this back to me;

"If the shoe fits."

In all my years of using social media, have only unfriended or blocked two other people out of the 967 friends I had, one for homophobic remarks and another for racial slurs.

Guess who became number three?

I don't need friends who think I'm a bad person for having my own opinions. Although I didn't agree with hers, would never think of thinking less of her for having them.

That's not a friend, it's a persecutor.

Seems it was okay to love me so much and comment on what an inspiration I had been to her, until she found out my political views.

That's our problem in a nut shell.

We can't seem to work together for the common good. We feel the need to find fault in anothers' opinion instead of trying and coming up with the solution to bring us all together.

Webster's defines Diverse as "Differing one from another. Made up of distinct characteristics, qualities, or elements."

Variety is defined as "The quality or or condition of being various or varied; diversity."

What's so bad about being diverse or varied?

I am in total agreement that separate political parties are what divide us, and do absolutely nothing to bring us together.

I have many Muslim friends, Jewish friends, Agnostic friends and Catholic friends and even an Atheist or two. I have many gay friends and relatives and friends of every nationality, ethnicity or color. I know people who have a lot of money and people who are broke. I know people who are struggling and I know people who have won their struggles.

They make my life a diverse and a wonderful place to be.

Bottom line...

There are simply and only two different types of human beings on this earth.

Good ones and bad ones.

I think there are a lot more good people in this world than bad, which gives us the upper hand.

Let's use that to our advantage.

Us falling apart only gives them the advantage.

Touche'.

Till next time...COTTON

Two Days In A Row

My off days are usually never in a row but somehow ended up that way this week. A girl could get used to this.

I think my manager who does the schedule felt sorry for me this past week. He scheduled me for seven shifts and two of them were doubles. To add insult to injury both double shifts were after I was scheduled to close the night before. The first double wasn't so hard although both shifts turned out to be complete duds.

I closed on Wednesday night and didn't get off until well after midnight. I had to be back the next morning and went in at eleven. I got off after midnight and while I made more money than I ever have, was totally exhausted and my feet were screaming. They still hurt when they touched the floor the next morning.

On Friday night I (nicely) told my manager I was simply too old to work double shifts anymore and certainly not two in one week. He apologized for having to do it, just needed extra servers that one week.

The USTA opened a huge facility here in Orlando (five minutes from Chroma) recently and has made for great business at the restaurant, located directly next door (literally steps away) to the Marriott where most of the players stay.

People come from all over the world to play in tournaments here. I've waited on people from literally everywhere; from all across the United States, New Zealand, Germany, England, Italy and even Australia.

They also held the ground breaking ceremony on Monday for the shopping and retail district being built directly in front of our restaurant. There will also be a movie theater, bowling alley and a few more restaurants and specialty shops.

In a couple of years it's going to be one huge Cash Cow for everyone involved, which luckily includes me.

I've already doubled my income in less than a years' time and look forward to making "Airport" money again, without the hassle of working at an airport.





Once again, am glad I listened to my brother, who told me to apply for the job with Chroma after my job transfer fell through last year when we moved to Orlando.

He's a pretty sharp guy with an even sharper wit. He makes me seem dull.

And look how much he loves me!!!

Totally kidding.

He does  give me quite a bit of grief and always makes fun of my horrible southern drawl. Especially the way I pronounce my husbands' name with two syllables. "Tea-um."

This journey Tea-um and I have been through has turned out to be quite the blessing, mostly and mainly because of these two.

They always had my back when I was a little kid and they've always had my back as a (still little) adult.

When life overwhelms you, sometimes it helps to take a step back and look around. You'll discover blessings you never thought about having before and learn to be more grateful for them.

My problems this past week were two hard double shifts which as we say in the south, wore me slap out.

My blessings were the redunkulous amount of money I made, with my only problem being sore feet.

 For the first time in over a year, am finally paying all my bills early again and socking money away into savings. Granted Tim pays most all the bills, I only pay the Verizon bill (which ain't cheap) and my car note. I buy most of the groceries and staples but Tim also buys some groceries too. We're a work in progress but is a total 'Team Cotton' effort.

I'm slowly gaining weight again and feels good to be tipping the scales at three digits without having to have rocks in both pockets.

I still miss our old home, but feel better knowing that my nephew and his wife are taking excellent care of and hopefully enjoying it.


We are twenty weeks away from moving out of our tiny rental and into our new permanent home.

It's served us well and have a pretty great landlord. Still seems crazy to me how much more rent is than mortgage. We had a fifteen year loan on our pretty big house in Newnan for $1500. We're paying $1235 to rent a tiny cracker box here in Orlando.

On a side note, hung another one of my mother in laws' paintings today on the wall in our tiny living room.

She always said this was her vision of what God would look like. Now He's watching over us as well.



So life has turned out pretty good for us after all. We're making strides and moving ahead. Our previous problems are behind us, and while we'll certainly have problems in front of us in the future, at least know we can make it...through any thing, and will.

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

And I will.

I will crush life, just watch me.

So we moved to the Sunshine State.

Here comes the sun!

That's alright.

Till next time...COTTON

Venturing About

I guess this picture is from about six or seven years ago, when I still had my convertible Lil Beemer. Boy, Massey and I put some miles on that little car, taking road trips every day we could. I think this one was on our way home from The Little White House in Warm Springs.

I've been very fortunate as a mother. I have three pretty wonderful kids who are so different from each other, which makes for quite the eclectic and enjoyable mix.

We're a mixed bag of nuts, that's for sure.

I had my two sons first, then as luck would have it got a daughter the third time around.

Boys will go anywhere with you when they are still too little to argue with you or be left at home alone. Once they hit middle school, just buy them a new gaming system and cell phone, so you can reach them when you need to.

Then gas up your car and take off for any where with your daughter and go exploring.

I can honestly say Massey and I have always been pretty close over the years and feel fortunate that she will still hang out with her ole crazy momma.

Since moving to Orlando, we've gotten even closer. We love going to Cocoa Beach together or hanging around my brothers' lake house. We ventured to Mt. Dora after a co worker of mine told me about it and found the place to be absolutely enchanting.

Massey quickly made her first BFF (Ashley) after meeting our next door neighbor, a young woman in her mid twenties just embarking on her own teaching career after recently graduating from UCF. She's from New York but has been living here for several years now and has taken Massey to a lot of cool places.


Massey introduced me to one of them just the other day, and treated me to lunch.

I immediately got that feel good vibe like you get when visiting L5P in Atlanta.

You park in the back and are greeted by the coolest VW bus wedged into the fence of their garden outdoor seating area.

You order from the counter and your food is ready within the matter of less than five minutes. We ate in the garden area. This is a pic of the front of the order counter.

We carried our food out back and began to sink our teeth into the best BBQ sandwiches we've ever had.

Luckily it was the middle of the afternoon and during  the slow period so I took a quick video as we were finishing up.

The food was amazing and the vibe was even better.

 Actually Massey and I went to eat there again today. There was another woman there  for the first time and she was wowing and going on and on  about the place just as I had on my first visit.

Massey and I spent quite a bit of time tooling around all the eclectic pockets of Atlanta like L5P, Virginia Highland, Inman Park and Edgewood.

After a year here, are finally venturing out  in Orlando to discover what secrets this city holds for us.

Sometimes it's not enough to just put yourself out there. Sometimes you have to venture and discover what's out there.


I'm going to continue and enjoy my venturing about with Massey;  it will be over within a few short months.

She graduates from college in early December and will be leaving us to mark her own mark in this world. She has several different options, one of them being moving to England for a year. I think that is an excellent idea. I want her to venture even more than we have together and explore every option
open to her. She'll always be welcome here in Orlando and when we buy our house in April will be one big enough to accommodate visits from all three of our kids.

Massey never wanted to live in Orlando but came along for the ride. Thank God she did, I would have never survived without her.

One year later, think I'm okay now to survive on my own with Tim and the pups. Having a brother ten minutes down the road helps too and have made a few close friends who I can count on.

It's going to be a hard adjustment for me. For twenty two years I've had her by and on my side.


I've let both my sons go and worried for them both, still do...but are making it on their own, each in their own different way.

Massey is all I have left to let go of.

How did she get this old this soon? It seems like last week I was holding her on my hip.

The times, they are changing.

Raising kids is really hard but thoroughly fulfilling when you step back and take notice of what amazing people you are adding to society.

We've added three.

What boggles my tiny mind even more is that I am almost fifty eight years old.

How did that happen?

I've earned every wrinkle and gray hair, sometimes the easy way and sometimes the hard way.

You have to take a jump on life, even if it's from the cliff of depression or the edge of despair.

You have to move in life.

Life, defined by Webster's:

"The physical, mental, and spiritual experiences that constitute existence."


Lucky for me, can say with conviction...

Been there done that.

Kudos to my kids for surviving having the craziest momma on the planet.

I may be losing Massey for her to pursue future endeavors but will always have my sister as a back up ride or die.

Once again, I am a lucky, lucky person.

Till next time...COTTON

Finally Fall

So it took until the middle of October but Fall is finally in the air here in Orlando. In other words, it's not in the mid nineties every day. Oh it still gets the the upper eighties and once in a while the low nineties but sure feels much cooler.

This is what it was like the end of the first week in October...

Having made it through an entire year living here, quickly decided my favorite season is October to April. In late January you have to wear a sweater about three or four days, then can put it away for another year.

In Georgia, the nineties are still hot in summer but with this brutal Florida sun beating down on you, the nineties feel like a hundred and ten, even in October.


In other news...

In three days I will have been working at my new place for one year, which means I will be eligible for benefits. I'm on the fence about it. I already work five shifts a week and am totally down with that. My airport shifts were much longer and after five shifts always clocked out extremely close to going over forty hours. I work five shifts now which is about twenty five hours a week, perfect for an ole nag like me, especially since I've been working forty hours a week for the past ten years. Forty hours a week as a server feels like an almost sixty hour work week sitting behind a desk. I am constantly moving at a quick pace, never stopping or sitting, carrying heavy trays and dishes and the entire job is physical and extremely strenuous. I used to keep a step counter (pedometer) in my apron and usually walked over three miles per shift.

So to be eligible for insurance for me and Massey, I will have to work an extra shift each week to meet the thirty hour minimum needed.

I don't wanna work an extra shift. I'd lose what little of my mind I have left. Don't get me wrong, I like my job. If I worked every single shift with the dream team of  my favorite co workers, I could do it in a heartbeat, but I don't make the schedule (mine or theirs).

Most of the people I work with are in their twenties, some even in their teens and more than a few simply don't get it yet. They let you do the work because they know you will. They know you will compensate for them standing around talking while you get the shift set up for success. They know you will run their food, get the items their tables ask you for or stop to help their customers when they are looking around like "Where in the hell is my server?"

The thing most younger servers don't realize is that a restaurant either looks 'Good together or bad together'.

It's exhausting to me, especially after almost forty years of serving.

If I have to work that extra shift every week, it might make me hate my job. I'll have insurance for myself and Massey but will be a drain on me.

The entire reason we don't go on Tim's insurance is that it would simply just be too much out of his paycheck, which is our main source of income.

So here's my thinking.

I'll wait and see what the plan at work offers and how much it will cost me. Tim is going to check as well and see what it would cost to add Massey and me to his plan. He has pretty good insurance, with BC/BS. He can't do it until we buy our house in April but April will be here before you know it. If I have to, I'll bite the bullet and work an extra shift every week and go with the insurance at work for six months. Then once we get our loan for the new house, will just take twenty bucks in tips from every shift I work and transfer it to his account to defray the cost of us being on his plan and being deducted from his paycheck.

I'm not a lazy person but am pretty tired of working full time. I worked six days a week for more years than I care to remember. When the kids were little, I worked for the school system for seven years so they could attend the school. I still worked at LongHorn Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights after working days at the school Monday through Friday, so basically  worked seven days a week for seven years.

Not a lot of fun, but it got the job done.

I need to keep reminding myself how very close we are and how very far we have come.

Now I just sound like I am whining, and maybe I am.

Actually I am.

But that's okay too sometimes.

I prefer to think of it as "venting."

That's pretty much what my blog is all about anyway.

Webster's defines vent as "A means of escape or release from confinement; an outlet."

Sometimes, most of the time, pretty much all of the time, I feel better after having expressed my feelings in writing, whether it be on a keyboard or with a pen on paper.

Webster's also defines writing as "Something written, esp. : Meaningful letters or characters that constitute readable matter."

Yep, that's my bag and I dig it.

I wrote a blog recently about my favorite manager at work leaving.

I went into work several days later and she said "Kelly, could you come here for a minute before clocking in?"

I thought I had done something wrong and was "kinda scare't" as we say in the south. I walked over to her when she held out her arms, then tightly hugged me. She told me she blubbered like a baby while reading my blog about her leaving and just wanted me to know how much meeting and working with me has meant to her.

How crazy is that?

She said she just googled my name and my blog popped up. All my managers know I have a blog but certainly never expected one of them to read it, but she did.

As of today I have had over 201,760 views on my blog, from ten different countries.

Here's the thing. Put some positivity out there into the universe. Put your problems, feelings and how you are working to solve them out there too. Put your heart out there, put yourself out there.

I do  want something, I want to be a success at life. I want to help others be a success at life. I simply want the world to realize that love achieves and hate decimates.

For all my whining and your bearing (yes, googled and is the correct term) with me, I thank you all for following my well over half century journey and know is the downhill slide for me.

It's  crunch time, and time to make it count.

When I first met Tim in 1988, he was all into REM, a local band from Athens, Georgia.

Religion is defined as "Belief and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe."

I'll never lose my religion.

Till next time...COTTON